envisioning community engagement and outreach at the … · 2020. 4. 7. · 1 | a v i s i o n f o r...

1 | A V i s i o n f o r C o m m u n i t y E n g a g e m e n t a n d O u t r e a c h

Envisioning Community Engagement and Outreach at the

University of Wyoming

Draft Report: April 16, 2018

Executive Summary

In summer 2017, the University of Wyoming launched its strategic plan, Breaking Through: 2017-2022, to set a new tone and mission for Wyoming’s flagship and land-grant university. In that plan, UW committed itself to “scholarship, outreach and service that extend our human talent and technological capacity to serve the people in our communities, our state, the nation, and the world.”1

At the heart of that commitment are the values of engagement and communication, and the specific goal to “improve and enhance the health and well-being of our communities and environments through outreach programs and in collaboration with our constituents and partners.”2

The Engagement Task Force was created by President Laurie S. Nichols to implement a new vision for engagement and outreach with our communities. In this report, we thoughtfully build on our history and identity as Wyoming’s sole land-grant and public flagship institution to present our plan for a “One Wyoming, One State, One University, One Team”3 strategic approach to community engagement.

The project has involved an institutional self-study, which includes a thoughtful review of key themes from the fall 2016 strategic planning community and campus listening sessions; focus groups across twelve communities; a faculty/staff engagement and outreach inventory survey; and benchmarking UW against close peer, stretch peer, and exemplar/aspirational institutions. We now present this plan to elevate the university’s already substantial efforts in community engagement and outreach.

For UW to develop more effective, sustainable, and equitable relationships with our communities to address the complex economic, social, and development challenges facing Wyoming, we make the following eight recommendations:

1 Breaking Through: 2017-2022, A Strategic Plan for the University of Wyoming, available: http://www.uwyo.edu/strategic-plan/p. 6. 2 Breaking Through: 2017-2022, p. 11. 3 Following the lead of Athletics, we see the One Wyoming, One State, One University, One Team motto as a clear vision representing our belief that the University of Wyoming is part of Wyoming’s communities.


1: Create an Office of Engagement and Outreach that serves as a portal of access to

UW for the citizens of Wyoming (and beyond) and coordinates and streamlines engagement/outreach efforts to achieve enhanced consistency, follow through, and impact.

2: Strengthen UW’s Culture of community engagement and outreach best practices,

integrate this work with institutional initiatives, and reward this activity within the UW community.

3: Develop practices and structures to expand mutually beneficial Relationships

with community partners across the state.

4: Communicate regularly and effectively about engagement and outreach.

5: Embrace diverse Cultural Perspectives and experiences as we work with a

broad range of communities and stakeholders.

6: Develop robust connection between engagement and Student Learning and

student success measures.

7: Seek Recognition for UW’s engagement and outreach strengths by joining

national efforts such as the Campus Compact Civic Action Plan, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities’ Council on Engagement and Outreach Initiatives, and through the Carnegie “Community Engaged University” designation.

8: Assess community engagement and outreach activities and use resulting data to

drive future decisions.

Changing our engagement and outreach model from individualized practice to a strategic, coordinated model where UW builds partnerships with a conscious ethos of reciprocity will take a long-term commitment on the part of our administration, faculty, staff, and students. The ability to execute these recommendations will rely on a structure and team of professionals with reach across the state dedicated to year-round engagement and service. Key to successfully implementing this work is approval by the President and Provost, a programming budget that builds rewards and incentives, and institution-wide buy-in to build a culture and best practice model for engagement and outreach with our communities.


Contents

Executive summary 1

A Vision for Breaking Through on Engagement and Outreach at UW 4

Introduction, Purpose and Charge, Needs and Values

Why Change Now? 7

UW’s Strategic Listening Session Inventory, Community Focus Groups, Faculty and Staff Inventory Survey, Benchmarking and Institutional Comparisons

Recommendations for Meeting Wyoming Needs and Building

Engagement Best Practices 13

Appendix A: Engagement Task Force Membership 28 Appendix B: Engagement Task Force Process 29 Appendix C: UW Focus Group Project 31 Appendix D: Marvin Millgate Community Engagement Awards 32 Appendix E: Benchmarking Exercise 33 Appendix F: Timeline for Implementation 35 Appendix G: Engagement and Outreach Transition Plan 36


A Vision for Breaking Through on Engagement and Outreach at UW

Introduction As Wyoming's only public university, we are committed to active engagement, collaboration, and clear communication with our local, state, tribal, national and global constituencies for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity. We seek to enhance a culture of engagement that recognizes faculty, staff, and students for their contributions to engagement and outreach on campus and in our communities. UW is positioned, ready, and willing to work with our partners to improve and enhance the health and well-being of our citizens, communities, and environments through coordinated, reciprocal public relationships which actively engage our partners and constituents. We are guided by both a vision and opportunity to follow the lead of Athletics to build a “One Wyoming, One State, One University, One Team” model to enhance our strategic engagement and outreach efforts. The Morrill Act of 1862 is our starting point. Its vision for education laid the foundation for enabling all citizens of the United States to participate in the nation’s economic and social progress through its focus on practical public education. Thus, America crafted a forward-thinking system of education grounded on the assumption that knowledge provides a primary foundation for the creation of wealth, prosperity, and a stable democratic society. An expansion to the Morrill Act in the 1880s allowed Wyoming Territory to establish the University of Wyoming, a land-grant institution, three years before Wyoming became a state. Today, every college, school, and division of UW participates in numerous activities in the state, with significant impacts on communities in each of Wyoming’s 23 counties. Some of the most visible partnerships with our communities can be found in programs offered by UW Extension, which has educators in every county and the Wind River Indian Reservation. Programs include Cent$ible Nutrition, 4-H, and research projects aimed at improving production and value of Wyoming’s ranches. The Division of Kinesiology and Health at UW leads the Growing Resilience garden programs. Other programs include the $4 million in free legal advice provided by the seven clinics in the College of Law to extensive K-12 and community college outreach efforts by every UW college and school. In these, we see UW’s deep commitment to improving the lives of Wyoming’s citizens. We have adopted the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching definition of community engagement as a core goal, which places at its center the collaboration between institutions of higher education and their larger communities for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources. Carnegie defines the purpose of community engagement as


[T]he partnership of college and university knowledge and resources with those of the public and private sectors to enrich scholarship, research, and creative activity; enhance curriculum, teaching and learning; prepare educated, engaged citizens; strengthen democratic values and civic responsibility; address critical societal issues; and contribute to the public good.4

Further, we are committed to the Association of Public Land-grant Universities’ (APLUs) guiding principles that our work produce knowledge that benefits individuals and society, prepares students for productive citizenship, and addresses the problems of the communities we serve.5 Undergirding the community engagement focus is the recognition that not all expertise and knowledge resides in the academy and both expertise and great learning opportunities in teaching and scholarship also reside in nonacademic settings, such as our communities. While adoption of the Carnegie Foundation broad definition of community engagement provides a dynamic new look and practice for engagement at UW, we recognize that our mission is unique. As Wyoming’s sole public four-year institution of higher education, our community engagement commitment includes building on the breadth of outreach activities important to our constituents, as well as building depth in our community partnerships. We intend to build upon our past to embark on this new venture, one requiring a fresh strategy and structure, understanding the Carnegie model opportunity and APLU guidelines, along with committing to implement the goal in Breaking Through: 2017-2022 to positively impact our communities.

Purpose and Charge

The Engagement Task Force, chaired by Professor Jean Garrison, was charged by President Laurie S. Nichols to do the following:

• Create a plan for an Office of Engagement and Outreach.

• Work toward UW designation as a Carnegie Foundation “community engaged university” with the purpose to become a Carnegie designated engaged university and use this designation in university marketing efforts.

• Coordinate and streamline engagement efforts to achieve enhanced consistency, follow-through, communication, marketing, and impact.

• Provide a portal of access to UW for the citizens of Wyoming (and beyond).

• Strengthen UW’s culture of engagement with enhanced recognition and reward.

• Whenever possible, integrate engagement with other institutional initiatives and offices (e.g. admissions, distance education, community college/regional centers, entrepreneurship).

4 See New England Resource Center for Higher Education, College of Education and Human Development, University of Massachusetts, Boston, available: http://nerche.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=341&itemid=92#CEdef. 5 APLU Council on Engagement and Outreach, The Centrality of Engagement in Higher Education, Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, August 2015.


We were challenged to think futuristically about how to create an environment of engaged education, student opportunities, scholarship and service, and faculty and staff development at UW, as well as how to build collaboration between UW and our constituents to address complex economic, social and development challenges facing UW and Wyoming.

Those involved in developing this report agree now is the time for UW to move beyond uncoordinated efforts at service, extension, and outreach to adopt a community engagement model where we share best practices across units. (See Appendix A: Engagement Task Force Membership.)

Needs and Values

Being deliberate about engagement relationships and planning for outreach programs is an imperative for UW’s continued success.

To achieve this goal, we recommend a model that follows these guiding principles:

• Recognize that UW’s diverse resources extend well beyond the Laramie campus and across the state, and use the “One Wyoming, One State, One University, One Team” approach of Athletics to underlie the strategic engagement and outreach missions.

• Make UW known as a partner and resource to meet community needs.

• Leverage UW assets to address the needs of the larger community, recognizing the land-grant mission includes extending the scholarship of teaching, research, extension, outreach and service to address societal, economic, and development challenges.

• Regularly communicate the significance of the engagement and outreach activities and their contribution to the land‐grant mission.

• Align recruitment, incentive, and appointment practices with engagement goals and values.

• Coordinate internal discussions and summits around the state convened around specific problems and needs as identified by community partners with focus on active solution-based outcomes.

• Assess what we do and make decisions based on those assessments.

• Build off existing exemplars to evaluate how to achieve institution-wide progress on these goals.

In addition, UW’s engagement model should address the following:

• Centralize awareness of UW outreach and engagement efforts, and where appropriate coordinate those efforts and provide leadership, support, and training to achieve enhanced consistency and follow-through.

• Cultivate a system that values and rewards faculty, staff, and student efforts in statewide engagement and outreach and creates a supportive environment for outreach and engagement.

• Provide a portal of access to UW for the citizens of Wyoming.


• Integrate engagement with other institutional initiatives such as Inclusion, Equity and Diversity and offices (e.g. admissions, distance education, community college/regional centers, and alumni relations, among others).

This commitment to holistic community engagement allows us to retain many of our present practices, but requires us to adopt new community engagement concepts and associated terminology; align community engagement to the university’s mission and the unique needs of our communities; move beyond planning to focus on impacts for individuals, communities, and the institution; and undertake community engagement activities in a strategic and coordinated way with a new Office of Engagement and Outreach.

Why Change Now? UW’s support for community engagement is grounded first in providing opportunities for students and our communities, a practice reaffirmed by the recent strategic planning process. The task force drew first upon available internal data and assessed inputs through the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE) and the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), which provide data comparing UW nationally and benchmarking us with other U.S. universities and colleges.

The FSSE, administered last in 2015, reported that 45 percent of faculty members thought students in lower-division classes and 46 percent of faculty members thought students in upper division classes should participate in community-based projects (service learning) as part of a course. The institution likewise administers a student satisfaction survey every two years to freshman and seniors, and to for their part, 45 percent of seniors reported that at least some of their courses included a community-based project.6 This shows a baseline measurement for service-learning opportunities and commitment at UW.

Further, in the fall 2016 biennial statewide survey administered by Wyoming Survey and Analysis Center (WySAC), Wyoming residents were asked to rate the university the same way students are graded and to share their perceptions of UW.

• 78 percent of respondents gave UW an A or a B rating. This gives UW a grade point average of 3.24 on a 4.0 scale, the third-highest since polling on UW’s performance began in 1984.

• Wyoming residents were asked to rate UW’s performance on “having a strong level of engagement with your community.” In this question, 61 percent rated the university’s performance as excellent or good (19 percent excellent and 42 percent good).7

These significant but limited measurements provided an excellent starting point. They also challenged us to complete a more in-depth, multi-method self-study to get a sense of the scope, 6 University of Wyoming, FSSE-NSSE Combined Report 2015, Faculty Survey of Student Engagement. 7 The Wyoming Survey and Analysis Center conducts a biennial survey co-sponsored with the UW Department of Political Science which includes questions on statewide perceptions of the University of Wyoming. Full results from the November 2016 Wyoming Statewide Survey from November 2016 are available at http://www.uwyo.edu/uw/news/_files/documents/2016/12/questions.pdf. The survey polled 722 Wyoming residents, with a margin of error +/- 3.6 percentage points. See Brian Harnisch, “Statewide Perceptions of the University of Wyoming, WySAC Issue Brief, November 14, 2016 and the December 5, 2016 university press release noting the questions focusing on statewide perceptions of UW.

http://www.uwyo.edu/uw/news/_files/documents/2016/12/questions.pdf


breadth, and depth of UW’s current engagement and outreach activities, as well as to evaluate the needs and wants of statewide constituents. Steps included the following:

1. Review and code 10 community listening sessions and campus listening sessions that involved all campus units.

2. Conduct focus group exercises in 12 Wyoming communities.

3. Conduct a faculty/staff inventory survey for AY 2017 (which revealed UW activities in all counties of the state).

4. Conduct a benchmarking exercise to investigate engagement practices by close peers, stretch peers, and regional and exemplar institutions.

In addition, members of the task force hosted more than a dozen meetings that included guests from across campus. They traveled to a community engagement seminar, participated in a webinar focusing on the Carnegie application process, hosted two campus listening sessions, and completed a site visit to Colorado State University. (See Appendix B: Engagement Task Force Process).

Through these efforts, the task force has identified some general hallmarks of UW’s engagement and outreach practices, as well as opportunities and challenges for UW’s future engagement and outreach efforts. We present the general results from these investigations.

Strategic Planning Listening Sessions

An inventory of UW’s 10 listening sessions from communities around the state and the listening sessions with UW academic and nonacademic units provided important input into UW’s strategic plan, Breaking Through: 2017-2022, and a starting point for our data gathering efforts. Once coded for general engagement and outreach themes, these sessions provided an important first cut at evaluating how UW constituents and we evaluate the strengths, assets, and role of UW in the state, some challenges and concerns about barriers to UW involvement with our communities, engagement needs and wants within Wyoming communities, and aspirations for UW in the area of engagement.

• An inventory of the 10 community listening sessions shows that UW needs better communication overall and needs to share its story better with the state. These sessions also highlighted community concerns over a variety of program eliminations and a desire for more new programs via the old Outreach School and more UW collaboration with the community colleges. UW was mentioned as a key partner in the state’s energy economy and for economic diversification efforts.

• An inventory of the listening sessions held on the UW campus shows that across departments/colleges/units, engagement and outreach are widespread and highly valued. The breadth and scope of UW Extension was complimented and many other statewide activities and partner relationships (e.g., from clinics to agencies/businesses) were noted. Many identified the need for a centralized organization for UW engagement to support their efforts and for a better way to reward this service internally.


Community Focus Groups

Focus groups were conducted in 12 Wyoming communities to provide a more intentional baseline for views on UW in their communities. These focus group sessions, conducted across January-February 2018 (See Appendix C: UW Focus Group Project), were facilitated by a third party and had no UW people present. Invitees were selected on the basis of their role in the community to get as broad a set of perspectives as possible. These targeted communities were Afton/Star Valley, Casper, Cheyenne, Ethete Northern Arapaho Tribe, Fort Washakie Eastern Shoshone Tribe, Gillette, Laramie Powell/Cody, Riverton/Lander, Rock Springs, Sheridan, and Torrington.

Facilitators collected data from the targeted questions discerning participant attitudes about UW’s activities in and interactions with the community, as well as the top opportunities and challenges in their communities. The goal was to pilot a systematic and statewide assessment mechanism to bolster data from President Laurie Nichols’s community listening sessions. Although participation was small in some communities, taken together some important themes emerged.

Participants in the focus groups throughout the state expressed strong affinity and affection for UW, as well as fierce loyalty to their communities. Unsurprisingly, the extent to which UW is perceived to be present and listening in a community is directly related to the distance of their community from Laramie. Participants also noted that perceptions of engagement and partnership with these communities, including Laramie, has waxed and waned over the years, depending on UW leadership. Recent outreach efforts from UW President Nichols, however, have not gone unnoticed by these communities and is greatly appreciated. UW is clearly engaged on some level with all these communities, but there is a wide spectrum of awareness regarding the level of presence or engagement. In fact, focus group participants noted that although UW definitely has a presence in several of these communities, many or most residents are simply not aware of that presence. Four areas emerge where UW can make the most impact in the near term:

• There is a strong desire for a greater physical presence by UW in communities that are distant from Laramie. For example, more distant communities are closer to universities in surrounding states and are aggressively recruiting the local students.

• Economic diversity and economic sustainability is seen as both the greatest opportunity and the greatest challenge for every community represented in this report. While a wide array of resources and services are currently available, they are often not known or understood, and communities fail to plug into the willingness on the part of faculty and staff to bring their expertise to bear on challenges facing their community and the state.

• Concern over the significant challenges to growth and economic development (that UW may or may not have a role in addressing) were linked to the difficulty Wyoming communities have providing opportunities for Wyoming’s youth to stay in the state.

• The Wind River Indian Reservation communities have fundamentally different needs than all other Wyoming communities. Focus group report writers noted a variety of special needs related to economic development and unique barriers, but also indicated these perhaps provide the greatest potential for UW to make an immediate impact.


Recommendation themes that emerged from the focus groups are for UW to continue statewide outreach and dialogue, especially in communities that are more distant and perceived as isolated from UW; emphasize the importance of UW’s partnership with K-12 education and community colleges; maintain and expand existing partnership programs that match UW students with internship/research and service opportunities (e.g., communities want to see UW students and show them what a great place their communities are to live); develop strategies, provide resources, and market available UW services to help communities attract businesses/entrepreneurs; develop research partnerships with communities to help them address their challenges and opportunities; and ensure better alignment between the needs of industry/workforce and UW programs/degrees/certificates.

Faculty and Staff Inventory Survey

In the spring of 2018, a faculty/staff survey was deployed to each UW unit to further inventory specific engagement activities and community impact. The survey results will be used to: 1) establish a baseline of UW outreach and community engagement, 2) learn how to better support engagement at UW, 3) serve as a template for future faculty and unit reporting, and 4) make the survey easier to use and complete.

The campus-wide survey represents a conservative estimate of UW’s statewide outreach and engagement and gives us data to understand the wins we should celebrate and additional efforts we can strategically invest in. Results of the voluntary survey completed by 83 UW units show 1,294,061 individuals across all counties were served by UW engagement/outreach efforts in 2016-17, and the 662,644 contact hours for these efforts represent the equivalent of 319 fulltime employees (FTEs).

The highest concentration of outreach and engagement was in Albany County, with the next highest numbers served in Laramie, Natrona, Fremont, Sheridan, and Washakie counties, respectively. UW dollars spent for these activities was $12,078,611. Top areas of engagement were extension, direct client and patient care (e.g., Colleges of Law and Health Sciences), professional development, community college collaboration, K-12 collaboration, research, and seminars/public talks.

The survey results illustrate UW’s rich engagement and outreach around the state. Not only is UW involved across the state in clinics and direct client support outreach, UW faculty members have made long-term commitments to significant K-12/community college outreach.

Two important areas to explore are incentives and rewards for engagement and outreach activities and assessment practices.

• The inventory shows no consistent reward practices for engagement and outreach. Current practices range from no-cost incentives such as verbal recognition to formal measures on performance evaluations. Some units have funds to encourage and support engagement activities by faculty members (some do not), while units such as Nursing and UW Extension have expectations for clinical practice and extension, respectively “woven into the fabric of the school.” For faculty/APs with extension appointments, T&P criteria explicitly evaluate outreach and engagement activities through annual evaluations (thus affecting merit raises when they occur). There are numerous college, UW Extension, and professional society awards for exceptional outreach and engagement. Some rewards are in place, such as the


Service, Leadership and Community Engagement (SLCE) mini-grants for academic service-learning/community engagement. The Engagement Task Force took these examples to heart, as well as best practices identified in the benchmarking exercise, to initiate four engagement awards for faculty, staff, student, and community partner, and will build upon community involvement strategies to make additional recommendations in this report (See Appendix D: Marvin Millgate Community Engagement Awards).

• UW units reported a plethora of efforts to include community feedback on their engagement and outreach efforts. Strategies to involve community included conducting needs assessments, building on long-established personal relationships, soliciting input from people involved in trainings, and involving local representatives or using local feedback in strategic planning.

Many organizations, such as Wyoming Institute for Disabilities (WIND), report directly to their advisory committees and host partner meetings once a year, as well as attend planning meetings and working groups hosted by partners. The School of Nursing faculty work hard to establish ongoing relationships with hospitals and primary care clinics, becoming embedded in these practice sites. In the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, faculty/APs collaboratively work with stakeholders to conduct regional or statewide needs assessments, determine relevant issues and concerns, and design and implement educational approaches and applied research (e.g., producer-driven research). Further, advisory board members are invited to represent their county and discipline and constantly are encouraged to provide input and feedback.

Student Educational Opportunity (SEO)/TRIO Programs outline and agree upon assessment procedures prior to each grant competition cycle, and staff are evaluated annually on the extent to which they develop and/or maintain positive relationships with grant partners. Wyoming’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) uses roundtables and focus groups to start activities and continued trips to the communities to gather input on how the activities should be changed. The College of Education uses focus groups, zoom meetings, on-site meetings, observations of practices, and data analysis, while grant projects such as GEAR UP Wyoming hire an external evaluator who makes site visits and carries out assessment, resulting in annual written reports.

By pulling this information together and mapping where we are today, we can see that UW is very involved in statewide engagement and outreach, but practices vary based on the units involved. Survey results show a need to elevate reward and incentive structures as well as best practices and core competencies for engagement and outreach and to inventory the various assessment practices in place.

The challenge will be to use these results as a baseline on scope, breadth, and depth and moving forward to more systematically track, scale up, and systematize what we are doing based on what we learn.


Benchmarking across Close Peers, Stretch Peers and Exemplar/Aspirational Institutions

A comparison of engagement practices with close peers, stretch peers, and aspirational institutions provides a fourth source of data from which we build recommendations for UW. This effort was a two-step process that first involved reviewing the community/civic engagement structures at 25 higher education institutions including each of UW’s close peers and stretch peers, as well as five additional regional and exemplar institutions. This step was followed up by interviewing engagement teams at nine institutions and conducting a site visit to Colorado State University (See Appendix E: Comparative Institution Benchmarking Exercise).

A review of the engagement practices at UW’s close peer institutions shows that seven close peers have held the Carnegie designation since 2010 or 2015 (Montana State University, New Mexico State, North Dakota State University, Oklahoma State University, University of Idaho, University of Maine, University of Montana), while South Dakota State University, University of Nevada-Reno, University of Rhode Island, and Utah State University have not.

Among UW’s stretch peers, Clemson University, Colorado State University, Kansas State University, Texas Tech University, University of Utah, Washington State University, and the University of West Virginia have the Carnegie designation, while the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and University of New Mexico do not.

A closer examination of a subset of the peers and stretch peers, and inclusion of regional exemplars and aspirational institutions (e.g., Ohio State University, Oregon State University, and Purdue University) for comparative purposes, produces a series of observations and recommendations for best practices for community engagement structure, function, and practice at UW.

• None of the close peers have a centralized engagement office, although Oklahoma State University recommends it in their strategic plan. Each, however, has a civic engagement office similar to UW’s SLCE office that focuses on service learning and student opportunities and reports through the division of student affairs. (The sole exception is the University of Montana, which reports through its Extended University.) These are director-level appointments. Broader engagement and outreach functions are decentralized to the colleges, largely within extension offices. None centrally coordinate engagement efforts.

• In contrast, five of UW’s stretch peers have more comprehensive outreach offices similar to

what we are proposing. Among these exemplars including Colorado State University and Oklahoma State University and aspirational schools such as Ohio State University, Oregon

State University, and Purdue University we see centralized offices that follow the Carnegie best practices model for engagement, e.g., the office is responsible for strategic planning, helping elevate the engagement efforts of other units, and building reward and incentive structures for engagement.

• Follow-up interviews provided useful information on reporting structures and engagement structures. In these interviews, the engagement teams recommended that the most effective engagement and outreach offices report directly to the President or Provost through a Vice President or Assistant Vice President or similar high-level appointment. This facilitates broad coordination and oversight activities. They also recommended a council (generally a high-level Provost’s Council) to champion strategic engagement at their institution. Further, they recommended building in incentive and reward structures for


faculty/staff, including engagement as an explicit part of T&P and evaluation processes, as well as providing new funds for innovative fellows’ programs and partnership grants. These strategies have helped to build broad institutional buy-in for the engagement and outreach mission.

Recommendations for Meeting Wyoming Needs and Building Engagement Best Practices The Engagement Task Force proposes eight recommendations to elevate UW’s engagement and outreach practices. To advance on all eight of these recommendations, we must gather and invest resources to support our work in these areas.

We also recognize that to make progress, we need to ensure all UW employees feel they are part of the mission, have the tools needed to be successful, and that their work is recognized, rewarded, and celebrated.

Breaking Through on Engagement and Outreach: Recommendations


UW for the citizens of Wyoming (and beyond) and coordinates and streamlines engagement/outreach efforts to achieve enhanced consistency, follow through, and impact.

2: Strengthen UW’s Culture of community engagement and outreach best practices,

integrate this work with institutional initiatives, and reward this activity within the UW community.


with community partners across the state.

4: Communicate regularly and effectively about engagement and outreach.

5: Embrace diverse Cultural Perspectives and experiences as we work with a

broad range of communities and stakeholders.

6: Develop robust connection between engagement and Student Learning and

student success measures.


national efforts such as the Campus Compact Civic Action Plan, the Association of


Public and Land-grant Universities’ Council on Engagement and Outreach Initiatives, and through the Carnegie “Community Engaged University” designation.



These recommendations provide a bold new plan for engagement and outreach practices at the University of Wyoming. (See Appendix F for the proposed timeline for implementation of the action items associated with each of these eight recommendations.)



UW for the citizens of Wyoming (and beyond) and coordinates and streamlines engagement/outreach efforts to achieve enhanced consistency, follow through, and impact

Creating and supporting this office sends a clear signal of UW’s commitment to partner with our communities and to fundamentally transform our ability to do so. Recent budget challenges and internal restructuring mean that UW needs to better coordinate these efforts, resource them centrally, and rebuild networks to connect engagement/outreach efforts to our communities so we build on existing practices in a coordinated and systematic way.

Action Plan 1:

1.a. The Office of Engagement and Outreach’s vision and goals will be to:

1. Serve as a one-stop shop (or portal) for people around the state seeking help and expertise, working closely with UW Extension and other programs that already have community connections. Likewise, the Office of Engagement and Outreach must become a primary resource for faculty and staff members desiring to participate in outreach and engagement activities to achieve enhanced consistency, follow through, and impact.

2. Lead and frame campus and statewide discussions on the engagement structures in Laramie and statewide that will best synchronize the engagement and outreach missions.

3. Establish and build its scope as an advocate and leader for the university’s engagement and outreach mission and work to connect the expertise and resources of the university to meet the needs and goals of communities.

4. Identify, foster, and assist in delivery of innovative programs and strategies to meet the informational, educational, and technical needs of the current and emerging workforce, businesses/industries, and communities/regions.

5. Build a deep culture of engagement within UW which integrates these efforts with other institutional initiatives.

1.b. To attain these goals, we recommend the following actions:

1. Create a centralized structure with an office and direct report to the President to provide a platform to coordinate and build institution-wide engagement and outreach initiatives. Structurally, the position of Vice President for, or Chief Officer of, Engagement and Outreach (e.g., Chief Engagement Officer) will enhance visibility and set the cultural tone that UW holds a high level of expectation in our engagement and outreach missions. Our benchmarking exercise indicates positioning at this level has been an important indicator of institutional commitment and broad buy-in.

2. Develop a President’s Council for Engagement and Outreach (chaired by Chief Engagement Officer) to be the champion for the engagement mission and to oversee


these initiatives. Important partners include the Office of Research and Economic Development; Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity; Alumni Relations; Communications and Institutional Marketing; UW Extension; SLCE; academic units. The office will have a natural synergy with offices in student affairs, athletics, cultural centers, university relations and development, among others.

3. Work with colleges, departments and other units to establish clear lines of authority and reporting on engagement in collaboration with the Office.

4. Champion and explore statewide structures and best practices to advance the engagement mission, building from examples such as Colorado State University’s “hub” model and Nebraska’s regional arrangements.

5. Develop a community engagement and outreach advisory board with key community partners.

6. Piggy back on existing efforts seeking partner input on best practices for engagement and outreach.

7. Develop strategic priorities, respond to institutional needs, and lead and coordinate key programming initiatives around the state.

8. Implement the Office of Engagement and Outreach transition plan (See Appendix G).


2: Strengthen UW’s Culture of community engagement and outreach best

practices, integrate this work with institutional initiatives, and reward this activity within the UW community

Transform and reshape UW’s academic culture to promote, reward, and incentivize community engagement and outreach, as well as engaged scholarship and teaching. Integrate outreach and engagement throughout all departments and campus initiatives and provide transformative experiences for learners and communities.

Action Plan 2:

2.a. To strengthen UW’s culture of engagement and outreach, we must:

1. Coordinate top-down initiatives from the President and Provost with bottom-up practices and experience to build depth, breadth, scope and impact of engagement and outreach programs.

2. Build reward practices to strengthen the culture of engagement and outreach among faculty and staff, simultaneously working to align recruitment, incentive, and appointment practices with engagement goals and values.


1. Invest up front in programs coordinated by the new Office that recognize and reward community-engaged scholarship and practice among faculty, staff, students, and community partners to build buy-in for these efforts.

2. Work with Academic Affairs to insert engagement/outreach recognition into T&P and performance documents, hiring letters, and new position advertisements. Make the Chief Engagement Officer a member of the university T&P committee.

3. Put together a toolkit for engagement/outreach best practices and make this available to the campus community and our partners.

4. Build and strengthen the internal engagement network and, to better understand our capabilities, identify university-wide resources for this practice.

5. Align institutional efforts with college/unit efforts and build best practices in engagement and outreach programs/initiatives.

6. Identify engagement reporting responsibilities within colleges and units and individuals who will serve as direct partners with the Office of Engagement and Outreach.



with community partners across the state

Recognize that partnership, collaboration, innovation, and communication are key to understanding issues, guiding solutions, and identifying opportunities for community engagement and economic development. We value the scope and breadth of our outreach activities, as well as the deeper engagement we have in a variety of community partnerships. We intend to build from these efforts and use new structures and coordinated processes to achieve enhanced consistency, follow through, and impact in our efforts. This includes incorporating our partners’ expertise, experience, and perspectives into projects’ design and implementation.

Action Plan 3:

3.a. To enhance effective partnerships, UW needs to:

1. Empower employees in Laramie and out in the state, through organizational structures, appropriate reporting lines, and support to be effective advocates for the university and to build partnerships that address community needs.

3.b. To attain this goal, we recommend the following actions:

1. Champion and become a partner in key university/state initiatives where there is need and infrastructure in place so as to make an immediate impact. The focus group exercise highlighted three opportunities: the Wind River Indian Reservation, K-12 and community college partnerships, and economic development (e.g., Economically Needed Diversity Options for Wyoming or ENDOW).

2. Work with key partners, such as UW Extension to host discussions on appropriate structures and practices to best serve UW’s statewide engagement mission.

3. Utilize learning communities, technology, and social media, as well as interactive, hands-on, field-based, experiential, hybrid, and discussion-based approaches for engagement with the state.

4. Build upon UW’s existing engagement networks and resources (e.g., UW Extension, Academic Coordinators, Wyoming Technology Business Center) to support engagement and develop a network of thought leaders to build partnerships among existing UW personnel.

5. Develop new internal practices to foster partnership, collaboration, innovation, and communication to understand issues, guide solutions, and identify opportunities for community engagement and economic development.

6. Collaborate with UW’s Alumni Association and use alumni networks effectively for engagement; develop best practices and train on what they need to know; develop parameters for involvement of volunteers around the state.

7. Identify professional development and funding support needs to expand the scholarship of teaching, research, extension, outreach, and service to address societal, economic, and development needs.


8. Connect and collaborate with businesses, communities, and regions to leverage talent, innovation, and resources to address current and emerging real-world issues and opportunities (e.g., work with Office of Research and Economic Development, look for synergy with ENDOW, etc.).

9. Prioritize the community college relationship as a key to the success of UW’s engagement and outreach missions.

10. Emphasize programs that get students back to their hometowns and out into communities. Leverage strengths such as the Science Initiative “Science Roadshow.”


4: Communicate regularly and effectively about engagement and outreach

Engage audiences within and outside the UW community through a variety of approaches to build awareness; support interaction; recognize and motivate practitioners; and help sustain and enhance excellence, follow through, and impact in engagement and outreach. Make UW known as a partner and resource to meet community needs.

Action Plan 4:

4.a. To effectively communicate with our audiences, we must:

1. Develop and implement a dynamic communications and marketing strategy that increases understanding of and buy-in for engagement and outreach goals and practices by students, faculty, staff, community partners, and other stakeholders.

2. Make sure community engagement opportunities, partnerships, and outcomes are communicated consistently and effectively to individuals and groups on and off campus, emphasizing their contribution to UW’s land-grant mission and priority areas.

3. Strengthen the network of connections that support community-engaged teaching, learning, research, and problem-solving.


1. Develop an Office of Engagement and Outreach marketing and communications plan that communicates the value of engagement and outreach in accurate and compelling ways and inspires stakeholders to engage. Work with the Office of Institutional Marketing and Communications to develop this plan.

2. Develop systems whereby constituents outside UW can connect with individuals and entities within UW. Likewise, facilitate connections among members of the UW community with one another and outside constituencies and partners. For example, utilize UW Alumni Association alumni volunteer networks and board of directors, as well as members of other UW boards.

3. Help UW employees located around the state to connect people with the Office of Engagement and Outreach and UW’s other resources.

4. Create an Office of Engagement and Outreach website to promote engagement activities to all audiences. Include a calendar and interactive map of UW’s engagement and outreach activities.

5. Work with the Office of Communications and Marketing to highlight the accomplishments of students, staff, faculty, and partners pursuing exemplary community-engaged teaching, learning, and research. That is, tell our stories regularly and effectively, using a variety of approaches (media releases, articles, video, social media, etc.).


6. Multiply the efforts of the Office of Engagement and Outreach by working with other UW units, including the college communications and marketing specialists, to develop common frameworks for communicating with one another, collaborate on activities and strategies, and share knowledge and practices.

7. Ensure engagement and outreach are prominent in UW’s new marketing campaign to recruit students. Put institutional resources to this effort to coordinate messaging with other institutional and unit-level publications and communications.

8. Assess our efforts using a variety of measurements, report on outcomes, and use the results to guide future communications and marketing.


5: Embrace diverse Cultural Perspectives and experiences as we

work with a broad range of communities and stakeholders

Deliberately link the engagement and outreach mission to the UW Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategic Plan. Expand UW’s capacity to effectively engage with new and historically under‐represented learners, communities, and stakeholders and learn from and with diverse populations and communities. Identify and address challenges and provide multiple and varied ways for people to access education, research, and information.

Action Plan 5:

5. a. To build diverse perspectives into our engagement mission, we must:

1. Make the variety of perspectives, experiences, and opinions central to the engagement and outreach process.

2. Evaluate and assess engagement and outreach with this vision in mind.


1. Partner with the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to address the campus climate and culture to create and maintain diversity, equity, and inclusion values in all engagement and outreach practices.

2. Partner with the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion to facilitate connections with surrounding communities and assist in a statewide discussion on issues of diversity, equity and inclusion.

3. Align with UW efforts and practices to prioritize partnership with the Wind River Indian Reservation. The Office of Engagement and Outreach should work directly with the new Native American Education Research and Cultural Center (NAERCC) to coordinate projects and engagement/outreach activities on the reservation.

4. Create professional development opportunities in best practices for engagement that embrace the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

5. Work collaboratively with the Social Justice Research Center; the School of Race, Gender and Social Justice; the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; and partners to foster outreach efforts that develop culturally-appropriate content and delivery methods.


6: Develop robust connection between engagement and Student Learning and student success measures

Community engagement opportunities are an integral component of student recruitment and contribute to student retention and success. The Office of Engagement and Outreach will be positioned to elevate and help coordinate this work, bridging the gap between Academic Affairs and Student Affairs. As an example, Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU) High-Impact Educational Practices will be combined to integrate service learning and community engagement with first-year programs such as Cowboy Connect and the First-Year Freshman Experience 4th credit. By working with SLCE to enhance existing courses and develop new curricular and co-curricular engagement opportunities for students, UW will expand the scope and impact of its engagement efforts.

Action Plan 6:

6.a. To make engagement central to the student experience, we must:

1. Encourage service learning opportunities for our students and faculty development to help teachers offer service learning components with their classes.

2. Continue to align and enhance statewide engagement and outreach efforts with K-12 and community colleges, including the state’s educational attainment benchmarks.

3. Focus on a broad range of healthy community initiatives that affect our youth.


1. The Office of Engagement and Outreach will serve as a bridge between the faculty and the SLCE office to enhance service-learning opportunities, encourage faculty development of new opportunities, and measure impact of these programs.

2. Partner with the SLCE office to provide local engagement opportunities for students. 3. Partner with the SLCE office and the Center for Student Leadership & Involvement

(CSIL) and Advising, Career and Exploratory Studies office (ACES) in the growth, development, and expansion of student service experiences.

4. Identify and align a sharing of resources between the Office of Engagement and Outreach and the SLCE office in areas of common mission (e.g., SLCE innovative grants program).

5. Utilize Campus Compact resources and other resources/practices available through organizations such as the Association of Public Land-grant Universities and Carnegie Foundation for seminars, best practices, and funding opportunities.

6. Work cooperatively with SLCE as it develops a process for designation of service learning and/or community engagement courses to ensure all such courses meet the same standards.

7. Develop best practices plan for service learning courses, including a standard memorandum of understanding (MOU) to be used by all designated courses;


standard learning outcomes; specific evaluations for instructors, students, and community partners; clearly defined reciprocal relationships; and student opportunities for reflection based on learning from the experience. Make these practices a condition of Office of Engagement and Outreach and/or SLCE funding.

8. Develop learning outcomes to be incorporated in First-Year Seminar (FYS) courses or 4th credit experience.



national efforts such as the Campus Compact Civic Action Plan, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities’ Council on Engagement and Outreach Initiatives, and through the Carnegie “Community Engaged University” designation

UW seeks best practice models and alignment with national engagement and outreach initiatives including working with organizations such as Campus Compact, APLU, and the Carnegie Foundation. These initiatives provide a framework in which to develop plans, programs and policies which bring the greatest impact and recognition to our community engagement efforts.

Action Plan 7:

7.a. To build national recognition for UW’s engagement and outreach work, we must:

1. Build expertise and commitment to partnership, collaboration, and reciprocity practices across the institution.

2. Build a culture of engagement from the bottom up.

7.b. To meet these goals, we recommend the following actions:

1. Develop a timeline for addressing criteria in the Campus Compact Civic Action Plan, APLU Council on Engagement and Outreach initiatives/awards, and the Carnegie application. Needed actions include:

a. Build mechanisms to move engagement and outreach practices from unit to institutional level best practices.

b. Emphasize recognition and reward to build a culture of engagement and outreach through campus-wide awards and celebrations.

c. Show investment of financial resources and dedicated fundraising to outreach and engagement.

d. Foster a culture of faculty scholarship associated with outreach and partnership activities.

e. Grow engagement and outreach opportunities for students, staff, and faculty by providing a toolkit, and when possible, provide financial support.

f. Increase the number of service-learning opportunities for students and enhance assessment of these courses.

g. Link engagement efforts to other important institutional initiatives including student success and diversity initiatives.

2. Build capacity and staff support in the Office of Engagement and Outreach to strategically support engagement and outreach practices as well as assess their impact.




Evaluate best practices in community engagement and outreach programs, continue needs assessment for the constituents the university serves, and develop plans for meeting those needs. Produce an institutional outreach and engagement impact report annually.

Action Plan 8:

8.a. To assess our activities and act on what we learn, we must:

1. Conduct meaningful tracking and assessment that can be embedded into existing processes.

2. Provide a toolkit as well as educational and technical assistance for evaluation efforts.

3. Provide incentives and financial support to complete engagement evaluation.

8.b. We recommend the following actions:

1. Establish a mechanism to evaluate faculty and staff activities and measure impacts, which is embedded within existing evaluation processes and procedures (e.g., Faculty 180 for annual faculty reviews, new Human Resources Management System for staff). As staffing becomes available, make tracking these data a core function of the Office of Engagement and Outreach, with a specific person in the new office or the Office of Institutional Analysis (OIA) tasked with these duties.

2. The Chief Engagement Officer and President’s Council should work with external partners and appropriate UW entities to establish consistent guidelines and procedures for institutional-level assessment of engagement and outreach practices. When staff resources are available, it should catalog and host the central database of assessed activities/programs/partnerships.

3. Develop and build upon existing external assessment mechanisms to address awareness, perception, and impact from individuals in communities throughout the state. Build upon program/unit level exemplar assessment and feedback mechanisms.

4. Use assessment and impact data to identify and develop best practices and support a campus-wide engaged community.

5. Set campus expectations to assess and report engagement impact, reviewing existing tools and acting on what these assessments tell us.

6. Use impact and engagement assessment reports to provide credibility to faculty and staff recognitions and input in determining engagement grant awardees.

7. Insert engagement impact questions into the UW Student Satisfaction Survey and, if possible, insert institution-specific statements into the National Survey of Student Engagement. http://www.uwyo.edu/assessment/nsse/

http://www.uwyo.edu/assessment/nsse/


8. Continue to administer the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement to faculty and include the data analysis in the assessment database. http://www.uwyo.edu/assessment/nsse/

9. Work with the Service, Opportunity, Acquisition and Research (SOAR) experiential transcript project to get examples of impact on students from aggregated reflective statements on engagement opportunities such as service learning, undergraduate research, and others.

http://www.uwyo.edu/assessment/nsse/


Appendix A

Engagement Task Force Membership

Chair: Jean Garrison, Center for Global Studies and special assistant to the

president for engagement

Anne Alexander, associate vice provost in the Office of Academic Affairs

Chad Baldwin, associate vice president for marketing and communications

Jordan Blazovich, student senator representing the College of Health Sciences

Chris Boswell, vice president for governmental and community affairs

Mary Burman, dean of the Fay W. Whitney School of Nursing

Jo Chytka, director of UW Advising, Career and Exploratory Studies

Tony Denzer, head of the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering

Shelley Dodd, director of the Office of Admissions

Jeff Edgens, dean of UW-Casper

Brent Ewers, botany professor and director of Wyoming EPSCoR

Paul Flesher, professor of religious studies and director of Saturday University

Keener Fry, director of the UW Alumni Association

Bret Hess, professor of animal science, associate dean for research and director of the Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station

Richard Raridon, coordinator of community engagement and service in the Service, Leadership and Community Engagement office

Kate Welsh, associate professor in the School of Teacher Education, director of the Social Justice Research Center

Committee Resource Experts Chavawn Kelley, writer/editor, UW Extension Communications and Technology

David Keto, producer/director, UW Extension Communication and Technology

Scott Seville, professor of Zoology and Physiology, UW Casper

Glen Whipple, associate dean/director of UW Extension

Acknowledgements The Engagement Task Force would like to thank Pilar Flores, Paddington Hodza, and Chavawn Kelley for their extra efforts to make this report possible.


Appendix B

Engagement Task Force Process

The Engagement Task Force started meeting in August 2017 to address Goal 3: Impacting Communities in UW’s strategic plan, Breaking Through: 2017-2022. Its purpose was to create a plan to coordinate and streamline engagement efforts, provide a portal of access to UW for the citizens of Wyoming, strengthen UW’s culture of engagement, integrate engagement with other institutional initiatives, and specifically to create a plan to open an Office of Engagement and Outreach, and to work toward UW’s designation as a Carnegie Foundation “community engaged university.”

Five subcommittees were formed, following Carnegie 2015 questions.

1. Committee on Strategic Planning for Engagement and Awards

2. Committee on Assessing Engagement Impact

3. Committee on Strategic Communication, Funding, and Constituent Relations

4. Committee on Curriculum and Professional Development

5. Committee on Community Partnerships

Subcommittee members brought various subject experts into the project, and a small steering committee helped define committee procedures. Throughout the 2017-18 academic year, the task force met every two weeks, and to supplement the discussion, guests from the campus community were invited to share their expertise and insights.

The task force and/or its chair met with numerous constituent groups and stakeholders, including Faculty Senate, Staff Senate, leadership teams and department heads from College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business, College of Education, College of Health Sciences, College of Law, School of Energy Resources. The task force chair met with various groups outside the Laramie campus, such as the Connecting Extension and Research Conference (CERC), the conference for Academic Coordinators, UW Extension and other UW employee groups in Fremont County and Sheridan County, and leadership representatives from all seven Wyoming community colleges.

Two campus listening sessions were held – one in November 2017 and one in February 2018. An Engagement Task Force website was created to help disseminate information about the project, and an engagement email created to solicit feedback.

Key tasks included a review of listening sessions of each UW unit completed for the strategic planning process, the listening sessions conducted by President Laurie Nichols across 10 Wyoming communities, focus groups from 12 communities, design and implementation of a faculty/staff survey assessing extension, outreach, and service activities undertaken across Wyoming, and an assessment of engagement practices at 25 institutions, including each of UW’s close peer and stretch peer institutions and a select set of regional and exemplar institutions.


Appendix C

UW Focus Group Project

To gather community input, UW worked with Central Wyoming College, a neutral party, to facilitate focus groups around the state. The questions and discussion topics were developed by the UW Engagement Task Force. Individuals were invited to attend, and focus groups lasting 90 minutes were held in Afton, Casper, Cheyenne, Ethete, Fort Washakie, Gillette, Laramie, Powell, Riverton, Rock Springs, Sheridan, and Torrington from mid-January to early-March. The UW Engagement Task Force had a target of six to eight attendees per focus group. Although some groups were smaller than this, it should be noted that all information gathered is of value, and when combined with all participants as a whole, themes emerged.

Demographic Summary

A total of 59 participants were involved in the focus groups around the state. The following figures illustrate industry representation by location, focus group representation by industry, and representation by focus group site. Of the 59 participants, 34 are UW alumni.


Appendix D

Marvin Millgate Community Engagement Award Categories

The Marvin Millgate Community Engagement Awards have been established by President Laurie Nichols and Provost Kate Miller, in cooperation with UW’s Engagement Task Force, to recognize individuals and groups at UW in our community who have rendered exceptional engagement and service to Wyoming communities. Engaged Faculty Award - The Engaged Faculty Award will be presented to one faculty member whose demonstrated scholarship and/or practice of engagement significantly advances knowledge-sharing between academic disciplines and the public. Eligibility: Full-time, tenured/tenure-track faculty member, or academic professional (extended term track). Award Amount: $1000 Engaged Staff Award - The Engaged Staff Award recognizes one staff member at the university who both supports learning and development through community engagement and builds strong, reciprocal relationships between the campus and the community. Eligibility: Any full-time staff member. Award Amount: $1000 Student Engagement Award - The Student Engagement Award recognizes one outstanding university student or Recognized Student Organization that has been engaged in service-learning or other service opportunities that have made a tangible difference in the community. Eligibility: Any full-time student or Recognized Student Organization. Award Amount: $1000 Excellence in Community Partnership Award - This award recognizes community organizations that have rendered exceptional outreach and/or engagement within Wyoming’s communities through partnership with the University of Wyoming. Awards will be presented to community organizations with a distinguished record of engagement. Recipients of these awards have made a significant contribution to their communities and enhanced the institution’s culture of engagement, further establishing and strengthening the University of Wyoming’s commitment to supporting the communities we serve. Award Amount: $1000


Appendix E

Comparative Institution Benchmarking Exercise A subgroup of the Engagement Task Force Committee 5 – Community Partnership Committee completed a benchmarking exercise investigating the engagement structures, functions, and practices at each of UW’s close peer and stretch peer institutions (20 institutions in total). This list was supplemented by further investigation of engagement structures and practices at five additional institutions, representing a cross section of regional and exemplar institutions in terms of engagement practice. UW Close Peers Montana State University, New Mexico State University, North Dakota State University, Oklahoma State University, South Dakota State University, University of Idaho, University of Maine, University of Montana, University of Nevada-Reno, University of Rhode Island, and Utah State University. UW Stretch Peers Clemson University, Colorado State University, Kansas State University, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Texas Tech University, University of New Mexico, University of Utah, Washington State University, and West Virginia University. Regional and Exemplar/Aspirational Institutions8 University of Colorado-Boulder, University of Nebraska-Omaha, Ohio State University, Oregon State University, and Purdue University. Process This benchmarking exercise was a two-step process: 1) reviewing engagement structures for each of the close peer institutions, stretch peer institutions, and regional/exemplar institutions and 2) conducting follow-up interviews with the engagement leadership teams for a subset of 9 of these institutions to provide a more in-depth look at their engagement and outreach practices. Those interviews included Kansas State University, New Mexico State University, Colorado State University (CSU-site visit conducted on Dec. 19), University of Colorado, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Nebraska-Omaha, University of Nevada-Reno, Oregon State University, Ohio State University, and Purdue University.

8 The regional and exemplar institutions were selected based on the different engagement models they represented (e.g., University of Colorado-Boulder has an Office of Engagement but is not Carnegie designated and University of Nebraska-Omaha houses the Nebraska Campus Compact office). Ohio State University, Oregon State University and Purdue University were suggested on multiple occasions as exemplars for their practice of engagement.


Those engagement teams interviewed were asked the following questions:

1. Could you explain the governance model for engagement and outreach at your institution? Who is in charge of engagement at your institution and who do you report to? What is the structure and function of engagement and outreach at your institution? What are the strengths and weaknesses/challenges of your engagement model? How have your functions and reporting lines evolved over time? What would you change, if anything?

2. What is the scope of your engagement and outreach mission? What is the relationship with other internal units and who are your key partners/allies? Who are your key partners outside the institution? How do you manage partnerships and relationships with outreach and engagement?

3. What do you consider your core engagement mission? Particular programs/initiatives/relationships?

4. Do you reward engagement and outreach at your institution? How so? How is this incorporated into T&P and performance documents? How do you incentivize involvement in engagement?

5. Do you have assessment mechanisms for engagement? Do you note engagement on student curricular or co-curricular transcripts?

6. Have you gotten campus wide buy-in for the engagement mission? How so? What initiatives have been most successful and why?

7. What is your core budget and what sources do you have to support the engagement mission? Who are the key personnel in your office supporting the engagement mission?

8. Who was responsible for completing the Carnegie application (if applicable)? Can we have a copy of your most recent application and supporting materials?


Appendix F

Ideal Timeline for Implementation Year 1 (AY 19) Year 2 (AY 20) Years 3-4 (AY 21 & 22)

-Hire Chief Engagement Officer -Hire project coordinator and set up office -Organize President’s Engagement Council -Develop engagement communications plan and work with college/units on their plans -Create communications toolkit and outreach/engagement toolkit -Investigate most effective means to develop an engagement and outreach calendar and gather data on engagement and outreach activities -Coordinate discussions for campus and statewide engagement structures and processes -Coordinate university engagement awards -Work with SLCE and Ellbogen Center for Teaching and Learning (ECTL) to create professional development roundtable series -Enhance/augment SLCE small grants program -Investigate/cooperate with current campus evaluation and assessment processes -Meet with college/unit advisory boards to begin to identify make- up of community advisory board -Identify key partnership and infrastructure needs to move central priorities forward (e.g., Wind River Reservation) -Lead/coordinate/facilitate key high-impact outreach and engagement events (e.g., Saturday University and civic engagement initiative) -Complete an annual report on engagement activities

-Ongoing activities/programs from Year 1 -Submit Campus Compact Civic Action Plan -Investigate Faculty Engagement Fellows Program -Investigate Engaged Faculty Scholars Program -Seek funds for graduate assistant to support faculty engagement fellows -Establish engagement and outreach calendar -Organize community advisory board -Identify key partnerships and infrastructure needs to move forward strategic priorities and focus for the Office of Engagement and Outreach -Work with SLCE and other offices to organize campus-wide engagement celebration -Develop means to gather data, track, and assess engagement and outreach activities as well as the support needed to accomplish this task -Assess outreach and engagement programs/practices and make decisions and appropriate changes

-Ongoing activities/programs from Years 1 & 2 -Launch community engagement fellows and grants program -Align collecting, measuring, evaluation, and assessment practices with national best practices including Carnegie criteria -Hire program coordinator/office associate to track outreach and engagement activities -Assess outreach and engagement programs/practices and make decisions and appropriate changes


Appendix G

Engagement and Outreach Transition Plan This engagement and outreach transition plan discusses the structure, functions, and practices that represent the broad range of tasks to be completed to transfer this engagement project from the Engagement Task Force to the new Office of Engagement and Outreach. The purpose is the make the office an effective portal of access to UW for the citizens of Wyoming and to provide the tools to coordinate and streamlines engagement/outreach efforts to achieve enhanced consistency, follow through, and impact. Structures

1. UW will hire a Chief Engagement Officer to set up and run the Office of Engagement and Outreach to lead our engagement mission. The Office will champion the creation of the President’s Council and the community advisory board, build new networks and relationships with UW colleges/units, and serve as a resource to the campus and communities across the state. The Office will hire a project coordinator to assist in these efforts and other office initiatives.

2. The Office will champion and explore statewide structures and best practices to advance the engagement mission, including addressing the wide variety of needs from agricultural to health care to economic development in our communities.

a. Develop recommendations for how to coordinate engagement and outreach around the state, e.g., the Colorado State University “hub” model and Nebraska’s regional structure, which provide useful examples to think about for how UW can bring its resources out to the state most effectively.

b. Convene a series of discussions with key stakeholders on campus and across the state. Efforts in the first year will focus on modeling this practice/structure in one or two locations.

c. Request that an Associate Dean in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources serve as liaison between Extension/AES and the Office of Engagement, e.g., follow the Purdue model where part of the job description is tied to the institution’s engagement mission.

d. Consult with colleges/units regarding the link with new hires and existing personnel who are tasked with engagement as part of their job description. For example, investigate the need for new types of positions out in the state (e.g., Engineering Extension).

Functions and Creating a Culture of Engagement

1. The Office will develop new programs to enhance UW’s current culture and practice of engagement. The benchmarking exercise revealed the effectiveness of the following programs to establish broad buy-in for engagement.

a. Establish a competitive Engagement Fellows Program to promote professional development and create a team to help guide the practice of the Office of


Engagement and Outreach. This program provides a mechanism to provide faculty support for Office projects and a professional development opportunity for UW faculty. This requires faculty fellows to have a course release.

b. Establish an Engaged Faculty Scholars Program to enhance the scholarship of engaged research, teaching, and community partnership. Such support could include small stipends, a course release, or graduate assistant to support teaching, research, and outreach.

c. Institute a collaborative community grants competition to build engaged teaching, research, partnerships and broad buy-in on campus and with our communities.

d. Work cooperatively with SLCE and ECTL to expand professional development support for faculty and staff who engage with the community; establish a community engagement professional development series; and provide funding for faculty/staff to participate in professional development offered outside of UW.

2. The Office will make permanent the university-wide engagement recognition awards with community partners, service learning, students, and faculty engaged scholar awards.

Practices and Programming

1. The Office will work with partners to develop and host the university’s engagement and outreach calendar.

2. With staff support, and/or in conjunction with Office of Institutional Analysis, the Office will create a university-wide database to track and monitor community-engaged partnerships, programs, requests, and courses. From this, it will create a baseline report on UW’s impact, role, and perception in communities across Wyoming.

3. The Office will develop a close relationship with Institutional Marketing and Communications to share resources, as well as build the UW brand and highlight UW’s presence and collaborative work with community partners statewide.

4. The Office will host an annual symposium or similar event to highlight engagement and outreach work, host regular community engagement roundtables focused on professional development topics, and work with departments to take advantage of resources at the library to develop an archival system for outreach and engagement work.

5. In partnership with SLCE, UW Extension, and ECTL, the Office will work to increase community engagement instruction, training, and orientation opportunities for faculty, staff, and students to enhance best practices in service learning, involvement, and overall opportunities.

6. The Office will create university-wide standards for community engagement by adopting appropriate best practices already in place to develop and deliver community focused programming (e.g., review of current MOUs from UW Extension, practices established by College of Health Sciences, SEO, etc.).

7. The Office will work with Academic Affairs and Human Resources to develop faculty and staff job descriptions and expectations for engagement.

8. The Office will lead and coordinate key programming initiatives around the state.


a. Seek new funding to support outreach programs and invest in high-impact programming to move forward UW’s outreach and engagement objectives.

b. Take advantage of existing opportunities with partnerships (e.g., Wyoming Humanities Council), ongoing opportunities with civic engagement initiatives (e.g., Malcolm Wallop Civic Engagement Initiative), and significant celebrations (e.g., Wyoming Suffrage Celebration).

c. Facilitate and provide logistical support for engagement with statewide service clubs and organizations, K-12, and community college outreach.

d. Provide a toolkit for best practices and consultation for taking programs out to the state. Provide support to introduce new faculty to the state.

9. The Office will use the Engagement Task Force report as the baseline to complete a strategic plan for engagement and outreach as a primary first task. It will produce an institutional outreach and engagement impact report annually.

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